KBKAST

Courtenay Farquharson is the founder and Chief Technology Officer of Backrightup and has over 20 years experience in the cybersecurity, backup and devops specifically. Backrightup was founded by Courtenay Farquharson in 2021 to address the data protection, compliance and business continuity challenges with storing your important code and associated metadata in the cloud (GitHub, Azure Devops and GitLab).  

In a world where unintended cloud data loss scenarios like UniSuper in May 2024 are a very real possibility, Courtenay is passionate about educating organizations in shift-left DevSecOps processes and integrating backup into the SDLC together with other Developer Security Platforms (SAST, ASPM etc)

In this bonus episode, KB is on the go at ISACA’s Beyond Tomorrow Conference in Melbourne. KB sits down with industry leaders like Erik Prusch, CEO of ISACA, as he discusses the organization’s expanding global influence and their pivotal role in career development for their 180,000 members. They also delve into the critical topics of AI’s transformative power across sectors, the intricacies of third-party risk management, and the indispensable importance of mastering basic cybersecurity practices. Erik is joined by fellow experts such as Jamie Norton, Chirag Joshi, Francine Hoo, Kate Raulings, Richard Magalad, Sam Mackenzie, and Wayne Rodriguez, who also bring their expertise and stories to the table, sharing the newest developments and challenges in cybersecurity and critical infrastructure.

Erik Prusch

Erik is an experienced CEO and board director for major tech companies. Prior to joining ISACA, he was most recently chief executive officer at Harland Clarke Holdings Corp., a provider of integrated payment solutions and integrated marketing services. He has also served as CEO for Outerwall, Lumension, NetMotion Wireless, Clearwire and Borland Software Corporation. Additionally, he has been a board member for RealNetworks, WASH, Calero Software and Keynote Systems. Previously in his career, Erik served as chief financial officer for a number of public companies, such as Identix and Borland, and for divisions of public companies, such as Gateway Computers and PepsiCo. He began his career at Deloitte & Touche (then Touche Ross). Erik holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Jamie Norton

Jamie Norton, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, CISSP, CIPM is a Partner at McGrathNicol, a specialist Advisory and Restructuring firm committed to helping businesses improve performance, manage risk, and achieve stability and growth. He also serves on the Advisory Board at Avertro, a cybersecurity startup enabling informed and defensible data-driven decisions about organisational cyber resilience and AI safety. He has over 25 years’ experience in managing security resilience for State and Federal Government agencies and commercial organisations. He is the former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), one of Australia’s largest federal government agencies, where he led the security governance, risk, intelligence & operations, testing and forensics teams. He has chaired and supported several senior industry and interdepartmental committees on cyber strategy and resilience and the senior Australian representative at international government forums on cybercrime. He has previously held leadership roles at NEC, Tenable, Check Point, and the World Health Organization.

Jamie has been involved with ISACA for nearly 20 years, at the local chapter board, conference organiser and most recently with the CISM Certification Working Group. He holds degrees in accounting and information technology from the Australian National University and is an affiliate member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. Jamie is a regular and accomplished industry speaker and media commentator on cyber security. He is based in Australia.

Chirag Joshi

Chirag Joshi, a multi-award winning cyber security executive, brings extensive experience in leading cyber security and risk management programs across various industries, including critical infrastructure sectors such as financial services and energy. His expertise in both IT and OT environments, coupled with his experience in managing cyber security through mergers and acquisitions, makes him uniquely qualified to address the challenges of the SOCI Act. As the author of bestselling books on cyber security and a recognised thought leader, Chirag offers valuable insights into practical implementation strategies and behavioural aspects of security awareness. His role as Founder and CISO at 7 Rules Cyber, combined with his experience in leading multi-million-dollar cyber transformation initiatives, positions him to provide actionable advice on navigating the complex landscape of critical infrastructure protection, supply chain resilience, and cyber risk management in the context of the SOCI Act and beyond.

Francine Hoo

Francine is a Director with KPMG’s Data team focusing on building trusted data practices. She has helped build, assure and audit multiple frameworks including governance, data management, data analytics practices, privacy, risk and compliance. Having started in audit, she leverages her combined experience to help build evidenced based, human centric, ethical and trustworthy data practices. She’s helped teams build AI Assurance frameworks to ensure safer and reliable deployment of AI based outcomes. She passionately believes that humans are accountable for the right use of data and therefore the sufficient and appropriate risk management of data operations in all its forms – including AI and automation. The future of data driven outcomes including AI is dependent and strengthened by the partnership of a diversity of thinking, where humans collaborate with tech.

Kate Raulings

Kate didn’t start her career in cyber security. Computers and internet connected devices weren’t common at the time. She has a deep understanding of business imperatives developed over a decade’s experience in senior communications and innovation roles before focusing on IT strategy, governance and cyber security for the last 8 years. She regularly briefs senior executive, audit and risk committees and boards on privacy and cyber security matters and has supported numerous organisations through notifiable data breaches. Kate has a Masters in Marketing and an MBA from the University of Melbourne as well as CISM certification. She has won local and global recognition for her success in digital communication and was a finalist in the Women in ICT Awards in 2022 and 2023. She is a member of the Australian Women in Security Network and an ISACA member. Kate is the CISO at EPA Victoria.

Richard Magalad

Richard is a 30 year veteran of the ICT industry starting at the Commonwealth bank and was a 10-year IT director from 2010 at a mining company with gold and diamond projects in Australia, Laos and Canada.

Sam Mackenzie

Sam Mackenzie, is a Cybersecurity committee member with ACS Victoria Branch and brings 25 years of experience, where he speaks straightforward cybersecurity and technology with business leaders.

Wayne Rodrigues

Wayne Rodrigues is currently a Security Architect at Insignia Financial and an active member of the cybersecurity community.

Having been involved with ISACA Melbourne in the very early stages of his career, he has remained an active member and volunteer for the past 12 years. He is also part of various other initiatives such as the Purple Team Australia mentoring program and the EC-Council Career mentoring program. Being a keen advocate for continuous learning and growth, he loves mentoring others in the industry. Wayne believes these initiatives an excellent opportunity to give back to the community and help mould the next generation of industry professionals.

In this bonus episode, KB is joined by Mignona Coté, NetApp’s Global Chief Security Officer, and Matt Watts, NetApp’s Chief Technology Evangelist, on the ground at NetApp Insight 2024. Together, they dive into the critical topics shaping the future of technology and business. Coté brings her three decades of cybersecurity experience to discuss autonomous anti-ransomware systems, highlighting both the emotional and technical challenges faced by IT professionals in securing data and ensuring business continuity. She also delves into the importance of backup testing and the regulatory landscape that drives preparedness across industries. Watts, on the other hand, sheds light on the evolving role of sustainability within tech enterprises, emphasizing concrete measures NetApp is taking to support environmental goals while addressing the challenges of data waste. The episode explores the intersection of cybersecurity, sustainability, and emerging technologies like AI, offering listeners valuable insights into managing data efficiently while staying ahead of disruptive trends.

Mignona Coté, Global Chief Security Officer – NetApp

Mignona Cote, SVP and chief security officer at NetApp, has become a world leader in multi-cloud security, building solutions in high-tech, healthcare, insurance, and large financial institutions. Under her leadership, her team has unified security accountability internally to protect NetApp as well as externally to protect customers ultimately by moving NetApp to a SuperCloud architecture, which combines edge computing, multi-cloud, and multi-location recourses to create a powerful computing environment. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Systems from Northwestern State University and a MBA from Louisiana State University.

Matt Watts, Chief Technology Evangelist – NetApp

As Chief Technology Evangelist, Matt Watts provides guidance on NetApp’s overall strategy and technology solutions to a wide base of customers and the global partner community. Matt is also part of the portfolio leadership team, providing advice and guidance on technology and transformation.

Matt is increasingly in demand as a keynote speaker, combining his knowledge of the IT industry with anecdotes and stories that bring technology to life with witty, easily understandable examples.

Prior to this role, Matt Project Managed a number of significant IT projects; managed System Engineers responsible for providing installation and onsite support; as well as overseeing IT outsourcing contracts. This experience has given him contact with all levels of Leadership, enabling him to understand, communicate with and support clients with their IT and transformation Strategies.

In this bonus episode, KB is on the go at the NetApp Insight 2024 Conference in the MGM Grand, Las Vegas. KB sits down with two remarkable leaders from NetApp—Kristen Verderame, Vice President of Global Government Relations, and Michelle Rudnicki, President of the U.S. Public Sector.

Kristen shares her expertise on the intricate landscape of government relations and public affairs, explaining how NetApp supports various government missions across the globe, from AI strategies to the U.S. Space Force. Later, Michelle delves into leadership in the U.S. public sector, highlighting the importance of data security and the role of NetApp’s intelligent data infrastructure in enhancing data governance.

Kristen Verderame, Vice President, Global Government Relations – NetApp

Based in Washington DC, Kristen currently serves as the Vice President of Global Government Relations for NetApp, a $20B market cap technology company based in San Jose, CA. In that role, Kristen represents the company in front of Congress and Executive Branch agencies as well as government bodies around the world to support NetApp’s policy positions and enhance business development opportunities for the company. Kristen has spent over twenty-five years working in government relations and public affairs, and has extensive experience in cyber security, telecommunications and technology, and designing and running international lobbying campaigns and programs to support business objectives.

Prior to joining NetApp, Kristen worked with a number of other Fortune 100 companies to build their Government Relations functions through her firm, Pondera International LLC, including BT (British Telecom) Americas, Booz Allen Hamilton, Mandiant and FireEye. As an attorney, Ms. Verderame also worked through her firm to provide outside general counsel and business consulting services to major corporates, startups and small businesses.

Before founding her own firm, Kristen spent over ten years in a variety of roles within BT (British Telecom) Group plc. Her most recent role was Vice President and General Counsel for the company’s US operations where she was a leading member of the management team that drove 150% revenue growth (to US$3B) and a quadrupling of the workforce, with the non-organic growth requiring numerous reviews with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) which she led. Also throughout her tenure, Kristen served as the head of BT’s lobbying and government affairs office in Washington, D.C. in which she was the senior advocate for the company’s interests in front of U.S. Government agencies and Washington-based policymakers and led the company’s international trade policy efforts.

Kristen holds several advisory roles outside of NetApp. She currently serves as an officer on the IT Sector Coordinating Council at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the Department of Homeland Security, having served on its Executive Committee for the last several years, and serves on the National Risk Management ICT Supply Chain Task Force. She also currently serves on the board of TPG Corporation Ltd. (Australia) as its Security Director responsible for ensuring compliance with US Government national security requirements. Over the years she has been actively involved in the network of British-American organisations in the US and UK, serving as board member, Vice President and general counsel of the British American Business Council, the international umbrella organisation that represents over 2,500 British and American businesses across 25 chapters in the US and the UK, and also serving as President of the Washington, D.C. chapter. Kristen has also served as the General Counsel to the Transatlantic Business Council, as the CEO of the European-American Business Council, and as a US Non-Executive Director for UK Trade & Investment.

Kristen received her Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School, and her BA degree from Albion College, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with Honors. Kristen has also completed post-JD course work at the Georgetown University Law Center. Kristen holds a Top-Secret security clearance. She has two young-adult children, and in her spare time teaches yoga and races in duathlons.

Michelle Rudnicki, President, US Public Sector – NetApp

Michelle Rudnicki serves as Vice President of NetApp’s U.S. Public Sector business where she focuses on supporting government’s important and complex missions. She is passionate about and dedicated to helping public sector clients find technology solutions to manage their data most effectively and migrate to the cloud in this era of distributed, dynamic, and diverse data. She is responsible for leading the team to achieve strategic, financial, operational, and business objectives as they relate to NetApp’s public sector customers and channels.

Prior to NetApp, Michelle served as the vice president of Public Sector at Virtustream. Before that, she enjoyed a long tenure at IBM in leadership roles – including VP of Federal Systems – that spanned decades working with public sector clients to transform the way they interacted with their clients, citizens, and patients, progressing their digital services through the use of technology such as analytics, cognitive computing, mobile, and cloud.

In this episode, we sit down with Will Glazier, Head of the Cequence Prime Threat Research Team from Cequence Security, as he discusses the intricate landscape of API security in 2024. Will delves into the essential intertwining of API security and bot management, emphasizing why these cannot be handled independently. The conversation covers the diverse nature of API security issues, from inventory and compliance to active threat protection, and the industry’s shift towards consolidated security tools. Will also highlights the often-overlooked but critical importance of API security, compared to more tangible threats like business email compromise, and stresses the necessity of integrating security within CI/CD pipelines to mitigate risks.

William Glazier  is Head of Cequence Security’s new Cequence Prime Threat Research Team, whose mission is to help the security industry better understand how cybercriminals execute automated, malicious bot attacks against web, mobile, and API-based applications. As Head of CQ Research, Will focuses on the rapidly escalating problems of account takeover, fake account creation and content scraping at scale. He has an extensive background in fraud and abuse prevention, as well as building threat intelligence systems and databases. He has also extensively studied the shared attacker infrastructure and network fingerprints of tools used by cybercriminals to carry out these attacks, and has presented research at various security conferences such as BotConf, Hack.lu and GreHack.

In this bonus episode, we’re joined by Claudionor Coelho, Chief AI Officer, and Deepen Desai, Chief Security Officer & Head of Security Research at Zscaler as they share the latest in zero trust networking and AI security to protect and enable organizations. Claudionor discusses the societal implications of AI, the fears of obsolescence, and the generational changes in communication, providing a comprehensive look at the future of AI in both the digital and human landscapes. Deepen highlights the incredible potential of AI in transforming cybersecurity through initiatives like Zscaler’s “copilot” technology and the use of predictive models to foresee and mitigate breaches and the pivotal shift from reactive to proactive cybersecurity measures, underscoring the necessity of a zero trust architecture to minimize breach impacts.

Claudionor Coelho, Chief AI Officer, Zscaler

Claudionor Coelho brings a wealth of expertise to help Zscaler deliver a competitive technology advantage through the development of AI and ML innovations. Prior to joining Zscaler, Coelho served as the Chief AI Officer and SVP of Engineering at Advantest, where he spearheaded the development of a Zero Trust private cloud solution tailored for the semiconductor manufacturing market. Before Advantest, Coelho was the VP/Fellow of AI and the Head of AI Labs at Palo Alto Networks where he led the charge in AI, AIOps and Neuro-symbolic AI, an advanced form of AI that enables reasoning, learning, and cognitive modeling, to help revolutionize time series analysis tools on a massive scale. Coelho’s career also includes vital roles in ML and Deep Learning at Google, where he developed a state-of-the-art Deep Learning technology designed for automatic quantization and model compression which played a pivotal function in the search for subatomic particles at CERN..

Deepen Desai, Chief Security Officer & Head of Security Research, Zscaler

As Chief Security Officer & Head of Security Research at Zscaler, Deepen Desai is responsible for running the global security research operations as well as working with the product group to ensure that the Zscaler platform and services are secure. Deepen has been actively involved in the field of cybersecurity for the past 15 years. Prior to joining Zscaler, he held a security leadership role at Dell SonicWALL.

In this episode of KBKast, we’re joined by Jagdish Mahapatra, Chief Revenue Officer of ColorTokens, as he discusses the imperative of achieving digital resilience against cyber attacks. Jag delves into the critical role of the right partners in business digital security, the importance of microsegmentation in preventing lateral movement within networks, and why businesses should focus on breach containment rather than just prevention. He also sheds light on the importance of maintaining business continuity through digital resiliency, the need for ongoing support from vendors, and how businesses can better prepare for inevitable cyber breaches.

Jagdish Mahapatra is the Chief Revenue Officer of ColorTokens, a leader in Cybersecurity  industry in helping organisations “ Be Breach Ready”. He is responsible for the Global Go to  Market strategy of ColorTokens. 

Prior to joining ColorTokens Jagdish Mahapatra was the Vice President for CrowdStrike for  Asia Region which included South East Asia, North Asia and South Asia. His key responsibilities  included Building a Strong Business for Asia Region with the focus on providing next Gen  Cybersecurity solutions to Enterprise customer and Govt. and build Strategic Alliances for  CrowdStrike. Aside from growing business in hypergrowth mode which made Asia one of the  fastest growing regions in the world for CrowdStrike, he topk a lot of pride in incubating a 

culture of a highly engaged team with CrowdStrike Singapore being amongst the Top 5 Workplaces of 2022 and CrowdStrike India in Top 10 Workplaces in 2023. ( GPTW). 

Jagdish has previously worked for Cisco and McAfee. In Cisco he built a Strong Enterprise  business of 250M USD when he took charge as the Managing Director for McAfee India.  Having built a successful business and culture in McAfee India, he went to run the Strategic  Alliances for APJ for McAfee before joining CrowdStrike. 

He was recognized as one of the Top 40 Executives in India Inc under 40 in 2011 by Business  World.  

He has delivered a TED talk for Star TV which was aired in Jan 2018 where he spoke about how  we should keep our kids safe in the online world. He has also spoken as TEDx speaker in Feb  2018 on Cybersecurity and impact of Digital footprints. 

In the formative part of his career, he was instrumental in creating the manufacturing off  shoring model in India which emerged as a significant game changing industry phenomenon  during his stint at Larsen and Toubro, a large Engineering Conglomerate in India.  

On the academic front, Jagdish is an Electrical Engineer with MBA in Marketing and Finance.  Jagdish loves to explore travel to experience cultures, food and local mythology and loves to  relate the stories to work. Born in the holy city of Puri, one of the 4 top pilgrimages of India,  he finds Indian mythology inspiring to fulfil todays’ life. He is an avid reader from fiction to  Business and Technology and loves to blog regularly on all topics on Social media. Right now,  his passion is to rekindle his music desires with Piano and Drums. 

In this bonus episode, we sit down with Kavitha Mariappan, Executive Vice President, Customer Experience & Transformation and Dhawal Sharma, Senior Vice President & General Manager as they share the latest in zero trust networking and AI security to protect and enable organizations. Kavitha provides insights into the rising use of AI in cybersecurity, both defensively and offensively, and the challenges organizations face transitioning to zero trust environments. Dhawal delves into the concept of adaptive access and its role in real-time anomaly detection and zero trust security models, emphasizing the need for geo-location aware policies and the integration of step-up authentication. They also explore the impacts of recent cyber incidents in the ANZ region, the significance of network segmentation, and the collaborative efforts with industry giants like Google and NVIDIA to enhance security capabilities through AI technologies.

Kavitha Mariappan, Executive Vice President, Customer Experience & Transformation, Zscaler

Kavitha Mariappan is a seasoned go-to-market executive with a penchant for rapidly translating technology into customer-centric value, mobilizing global teams and operations, and transforming them into high-growth businesses. Over her 20+ year tenure spanning enterprise software and service providers, she has held various high-impact roles spanning marketing, product management, and engineering at industry-leading companies including Databricks, Riverbed, Cisco, and Philips Electronics.

Prior to joining Zscaler, she served as CMO at Split Software, a venture-backed startup where she built the company’s go-to-market engine from the ground up and was instrumental in defining a new category for product decisions. Kavitha is responsible for driving global transformation and innovation across all facets of Zscaler’s business, customers, strategy, products, and operations, with a strong focus on customer value creation.

Dhawal Sharma, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Product Management, Zscaler

Dhawal Sharma is Senior Vice President & General Manager of Product Management at Zscaler. He led all core product management from 2012 to 2018 and currently leads all emerging product and core platform responsibilities. His specialties are in cloud security, networking, data path, IoT, NFV, NPM, DLP, and compliance.

Prior to joining Zscaler, he has worked in product management, product marketing and head of sales roles in the space of security, networking, compliance and network management at large companies such as Cisco as well as in tech startups.

Dhawal has a technical MBA degree from Symbiosis Center for IT where he achieved the best academic performance with a specialization in Networking and IT Infrastructure and he also holds a Bachelors in Engineering degree specializing in Computer Science. Dhawal also holds multiple patents in the security space along with many technical certifications in the past.

In this episode, we sit down with Mahesh Thiagarajan, Executive Vice President at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), as he discusses the evolving landscape of cloud security and cloud adoption. Mahesh delves into the shared responsibility model of cloud security, emphasizing the critical roles played by both customers and cloud providers in maintaining secure environments. He also discusses the various challenges developers face, the innovative solutions offered by Oracle Cloud to prevent misconfigurations, and the significant advantages Oracle gains from its later entry into the cloud market.

Oracle CloudWorld 2024 is happening on September 9 to 12, 2024. Learn more about the event here.

Mahesh Thiagarajan serves as the Executive Vice President at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), overseeing the development of core infrastructure services that includes Hardware, Supply Chain, Datacenter, Compute, Networking, and Storage. His team is devoted to constructing a distributed cloud infrastructure that offers customers a comprehensive, high-performance cloud computing environment. The primary objective is to empower customers to innovate, scale efficiently, and manage costs effectively.

Mahesh was pivotal in the 2016 launch of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, contributing to strategic planning and overseeing various product launches related to security, application development, computing, database, and big data services. He also played a crucial role in establishing partnerships with Microsoft and VMware.

In his prior role as EVP for Security & Developer Platform, Mahesh led a team in developing security and observability products, cloud security measures, privacy solutions, compliance features, and services tailored for cloud-native applications development.

Join KB as she sits down with Gabie Boko, Chief Marketing Officer of NetApp, who will give us an exclusive sneak peek into what you can expect from NetApp INSIGHTS 2024. Gabie explores topics such as sustainability, cloud technology, and how AI is revolutionizing the way businesses manage data. Gabie also highlights the exciting new announcements, partner collaborations, and customer success stories that will be showcased at the event.

Gabie Boko is a business trailblazer currently serving as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at NetApp. She draws on her deep experience as a business, marketing, and technology leader to help shape NetApp’s evolution as the industry leader in intelligent data infrastructure.

A 25-year veteran in the tech industry, Gabie is known for her work spearheading business transformations at high-impact companies such as HPE, SAP, Sage, and Cognos. Prior to becoming NetApp CMO in January 2023, Gabie led the company’s Portfolio Marketing organization.

As a visionary business leader, Gabie relentlessly prioritizes a customer-first mindset. Among traditional marketing practices, she applies distinct strategies that anticipate future trends and adeptly navigate uncharted territories. This is driven by her proven certitude that marketing is much more than promotion and branding, it is about driving high impact outcomes and thinking for the business and industry as a whole. Gabie is resolute in her commitment to revolutionize the face of marketing and amplify its influence on business growth, strategy and vision.

Having grown up in the beautiful state of Alaska, Gabie is a strong advocate for the protection of rural communities.